Old Man and the Sea Notes

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The Old Man and The Sea” provides insight into its readers from various scenes in the text. “It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought.” The old man’s sense of perseverance and determination is one such thing which helps its readers a lot. The old man’s battle with the fish is not only a battle of strength, but a battle of will. Despite his old age, the old man survives with incredible endurance, will to withstand hunger, physical pain, and isolation from the rest of the world as he battles the fish. Endurance is seen as a connection between the old man and the fish he fights, which separates them from other people and creatures. “I hate a cramp, he thought. It is a treachery of one's own body.” In The Old Man and the Sea, the ability to withstand physical pain is a major style of Santiago’s defining characteristics. Suffering is an important role in his battle with the fish. It adds intensity to the struggle. The anguish of losing the fish to the sharks is surprisingly underplayed; this is a type of pain, which can be controlled by sheer willpower. What the old man tries to tell its readers is that physical pain and suffering which one gets when trying to achieve something is a respectable act and that these achievements require struggle and willpower to overcome the small losses in life. “I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.” One interesting question in The Old Man and the Sea is whether physical strength is as important as skill and experience. The old man may is obviously not as strong as he was in his youth, but he makes up for it with his knowledge of the sea and his fishing prowess. In the text, we also get a glimpse of the deterioration of strength over time, and how a man who relies on strength in his profession can fight against this. The text shows us that physical strength is not everything one
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